One subject that is often neglected with beginners is explaining how to determine how much weight to lift on an exercise. When following a training program you might see something similar to this for an exercise: “Barbell Bench Press 4×8” — This means you are supposed to do 4 sets of 8 repetitions on the barbell bench press. This description can leave a beginner with a lot of additional questions like, “do I use the same weight for every set?” or “should I go to failure on every set?”. A good training program will tell you how much intensity and effort should be applied to each set. Intensity is the amount of weight lifted and effort describes how hard a set feels.

There are 3 methods you can use to determine how to find the right weight to lift on an exercise.